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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2013 INTERNATIONAL Tajikistan’s Rakhmon: Unchallenged ruler of impoverished state DUSHANBE: Tajikistan President Emomali Rakhmon Russification, in 2007 dropping the Russian ‘ov’ from has ruled the Central Asian state for over two the end of his surname and making it clear he would decades, restoring a degree of stability after its be known as Rakhmon. The status of the Russian ruinous post-Soviet civil war but failing to eradicate language was downgraded in 2009. By contrast, grinding poverty and chronic energy problems. A Rakhmon has sought to tighten economic ties with burly former collective farm chief from the rural giant neighbor China and key regional player Iran, south of the country, Rakhmon, 61, is expected to with which Tajikistan shares linguistic and cultural easily win re-election tomorrow in polls that will ties. Military cooperation with the United States has once again pose questions about the health of also widened, a key factor as Washington prepares Tajikistan’s political system. The country is the poor- to withdraw its troops by 2014 from Afghanistan, est state in the former Soviet Union and its energy which shares a 1,200-kilometre border with shortages mean that its citizens experience hours of Tajikistan. power cuts every day, even in winter. IN POWER TILL 2020 Yet on every trip around the country Rakhmon is After his first election as president in 1994, shown by state television surrounded by well-wish- Rakhmon was then easily re-elected in peacetime in ers who sing him odes and address him as “your 1999 and 2006. With the presidential term now sev- highness” and is expected to win the election at a en years, he is due to stay in power until 2020 if he canter. The US diplomatic cables leaked in 2010 by wins these elections. With little serious opposition WikiLeaks painted a grim picture of the state, saying inside his political system and genuine opponents that from the “president down to the policeman on sidelined, observers believe that the father of nine is the street, government is characterized by cronyism grooming his eldest son, Rustami Emomali, 25, to and corruption.” Rakhmon took power in 1992 at the succeed him. The young man, who has already risen beginning of what was to be a five-year civil war to be deputy head of the customs service, is often DUSHANBE: People wave Tajik flags in front of a giant poster depicting Tajikistan’s President between secular forces and Islamists, when few oth- seen at his father’s side on state television during Emomali Rakhmon during a rally in support of Rakhmon in Dushanbe. — AFP ers wanted to be leader simply for the sake of self- meetings with the government or visiting foreign preservation. delegations. tric power station. high-spending weddings and even funerals and Initially taking the post of chairman of the His eldest daughter, Ozoda, is a deputy foreign But the project has been held back by logistical banned students from driving themselves to college Supreme Soviet, he vowed to bring Tajikistan “peace minister. Rakhmon, who was born in the southwest problems and Rakhmon’s dire relations with power- or bringing in mobile phones. But according to the and unity” but the civil war ended only with a peace region of Kulub, has invited controversy inside the ful rival President Islam Karimov of neighboring WikiLeaks diplomatic cables-whose contents where treaty signed in Moscow in 1997 and years of fight- country by packing top posts with fellow natives of Uzbekistan, who fears the project will take away his vehemently denied by Dushanbe-it is the president ing that left tens of thousands dead. The staunchly the south of Tajikistan and ignoring those from the country’s water and has warned the tensions could and his clique who are the most lavish of them all. secular Rakhmon has since moved to wipe out the north. The mountainous, landlocked country has lead to war. Amid the economic problems that The cables alleged that most of the revenues of the armed Islamist opposition although there have few energy resources of its own except water and its according to the World Bank mean the average Tajik Aluminum Company, which is the country’s been outbursts of trouble, most notably in 2010 only major export is aluminum. Rakhmon’s ambition income of the country’s 8 million people is just $860 main exporter, “end up in a secretive offshore com- when unrest left dozens of Tajik servicemen dead. is to solve these problems by reviving a Soviet proj- a year, Rakhmon has ordered a crackdown on luxury. pany controlled by the president, and the state He also spearheaded an energetic policy of de- ect to build the gargantuan Rogun dam hydroelec- He has told Tajiks to scale down their typically budget sees little of the income.” — AFP Musharraf granted bail in his last case Ex-general on bail in all court cases ISLAMABAD: A Pakistan court yesterday granted bail to former military ruler Pervez Musharraf over a deadly raid on a radical mosque, bringing closer his possible release after more than six months of house arrest. The ruling by an Islamabad district court means the ex-general is on bail in all the cases brought against him since his return to Pakistan from self-imposed exile, including one relating to the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. AHMEDABAD: Chief Minister of the western Indian state of Gujarat and Bharatiya But the 70-year-old is likely to remain under Janta Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi (center) gestures as he heavy guard at his villa on the edge of greets supporters upon his arrival at The Bhadrakali Mandir in Ahmedabad yester- Islamabad, where he has been under house day. — AFP arrest since April, because of serious threats to his life. Judge Wajid Ali approved bail on condi- tion Musharraf pays bonds totaling 200,000 rupees ($2,000). The trial is due to start on India throws November 11. Defense lawyer Afshan Adil said the money would be paid today, but rejected rumors that have circulated in recent months rings of protection that Musharraf would try to leave Pakistan. “He is not going abroad and will stay in the country,” she said. around Modi Musharraf’s name is currently on the interior ministry’s “exit control list”, meaning he cannot ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf (center) is escorted by soldiers as NEW DELHI: Indian security forces are tize” sites six times, the last time an hour leave Pakistan without the approval of the gov- he arrives at an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad. A Pakistan court yesterday granted bail to preparing for one of their most challeng- before Modi’s arrival, a security official ernment. Musharraf was arrested last month former military ruler Pervez Musharraf over a deadly raid on a radical mosque, bringing closer ing assignments in decades, protecting said. “Sewage pipes, manholes, you plug over the deadly 2007 raid on the Red Mosque in his possible release after more than six months of house arrest. — AFP prime ministerial candidate Narendra every hole in the ground and above,” said Islamabad, just a day after he was given bail in Musharraf has faced charges over Bhutto’s mur- ate grounds, but aides have said repeatedly that Modi in a country with a grim history of the official. Gandhi has spoken of the the last of three major cases against him dating der at an election rally in 2007, the death of a he is determined to face justice and clear his political assassinations. A series of small deaths of his father and grandmother and back to his 1999-2008 rule. Tariq Asad, a lawyer Baluch rebel leader in 2006 and the suspension name. The ex-ruler has been living in part of his bombs killed six people at a rally the said recently he could be next to fall to the for the Red Mosque, condemned the bail ruling of judges in 2007. 1,100 square meter house, declared a “sub-jail” Hindu nationalist leader held in the city of politics of hate. He is guarded by the top- and said an appeal would be launched in the In April he was put under house arrest, an under the auspices of a prison in Rawalpindi. He Patna on Oct 27. Authorities said the level Special Protection Group. An attack high court. unprecedented move in a country ruled for is guarded by some 300 police, paramilitaries home-grown Indian Mujahideen (IM) on either Modi or Gandhi could spark The former commando returned to Pakistan more than half of its life by the military. The deci- and marksmen. Reports have claimed he is group was responsible. While Modi was waves of reprisal violence. in March to run in the May general election, sion was seen by many as a challenge to the enjoying a comfortable life in detention. He has not in the immediate vicinity of the explo- Modi, the three-time chief minister of vowing to “save” the country from economic col- armed forces’ power. Since Sharif won the elec- even had the services of his personal cook sions, the message was clear. Gujarat arouses strong passions among lapse and militancy. But he was barred from tion there have been repeated rumors that a because of his fears of being poisoned. The “Narendra Modi is way above everyone supporters and rivals. He is a hero of the standing in the election, won convincingly by deal would be reached to allow Musharraf to Taleban have threatened to kill Musharraf, who else on their hit list,” said an officer in the Hindu right, and seen as a tough, busi- Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif-the man he ousted leave Pakistan before his trials were completed.

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